Tailpiece eok violins



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN PFAFF, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

TAILPIECE FOR VIOLINS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 24,329, dated June 7, 1859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN PFAEE, of the city and county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania7 have invented a certain new and Improved Tailpiece for Violins; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention consists in a metal tail piece with an eye at one end, and with recesses and a bar at the opposite end for the recep tion of the strings, the whole being constructed and applied to a violin, substantially as set forth hereafter.

The object of my invention is to form a tail piece more convenient to the performer, more readily attached than the ordinary tail piece and one by which the quality of the tone of the instrument is improved. n

In order to enable others to make and use my invention, I will now proceed'to described its construction.

On reference to the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification, Figure l, is a plan view of my improved tail piece for violins. Fig. 2, a section view illustrating the mode of connecting the tail piece to the instrument. Fig. 3, an end View.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

A, is the tail piece made of silver, German silver, or other metal or alloy capable of being easily bent without breaking. This tail piece, throughout the greater portion of its length, consists of a narrow strip of metal terminating at one end in an eye, a, for receiving the peg, Z), which is fitted to a hole in t-he end of the violin, as usual. The opposite end of the tail piece has two arms, c, e, diverging from the thin body or stem, and these arms are connected together by a transverse bar, F, which is either connected to or forms a pait of the tail-piece. On the outside of the diverging arms, c, recesses l, and 4, for receiving the outer strings are formed by the lips, c', fi, which also form a part of the tail piece and of the cross bar, F. Recesses 2, and 3, are formed' for the reception of the intermediate strings, the recesses communicating with the open space between the arms. Above the crossbar is secured a strip of metal, 71 over which the strings are bent and on which portion of the tail piece they bear. The strings are attached to the tail piece by tying a simple knot on the end of each, and slipping the knot-ted end of the string over recesses so that the knot may be underneath. The tail piece is connected to the end of the instrument by bending the end down over the upper edge and passing the projection, l), through the eye a, of the bent end into the usual hole made for its reception.

My improved tail-piece may be most readily constructed by cutting or stamping it out from a plate of suitable metal or alloy the rib, i., being subsequently soldered to its proper place at one end and the opposite end of the tail piece being bent as before described.

It will be readily seen without further de scription that my improved metal tail piece is more convenient to the player than the ordinary wooden tail piece which, together with its fastenings, forms so inconvenient an obstacle in the way of the proper adjustment of the instrument to the chin of the player, as to involve the necessity of holding the violin in a peculiar position which is far from being the best adapted for a rapid and skilful execution. It will be also seen that the metal tail piece may be more readily attached to the violin than those of ordinary construction, and that every facility is afforded for fastening' the strings to the tail piece. It has been found by experience also that the substitution of the metal tail piece for the clumsy wooden device and its cat-gut fastening, improves the tone of the instrument to which it is applied.

I do not claim broadly the employment of metal tail pieces in stringed instruments; but

I claim and desire to secure by Let-ters Patent* The metal tail piece A, with an eye a, adapted to the detachable pin i, recesses l, 2, 8, and 4, for the reception of the strings and with the rib z., the whole being constructed and applied to a violin substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN PFAFF.

fitnesses HENRY HowsoN, CHARLES D. FREEMAN. 

